He also hints that Cortana could make her way to the PC.

Joe Belfiore, who runs the Windows Phone design and definition team, was on reddit today to answer questions about Microsoft's smartphone platform.

The question Belfiore was most excited to answer was whether Windows Phone would get a File Manager app any time soon. It turns out that it will. Belfiore shared a number of screenshots of the app, and said that he hoped to have it released by the end of the month.

File managers aren't necessarily the first thing that people think of when it comes to smartphones, but with Windows Phone's support for microSD cards, a tool for moving pictures, music, and files between internal storage and SD storage makes some sense.

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Much of the talk was about apps. When reviewing Windows Phone 8.1, we didn't look too much at apps, because we knew it would take some time for software to be updated for Windows Phone 8.1's new features. Since our review, the Music app is now on a rapid release cycle, with updates being published every two weeks. Also after our review, the OneDrive app has been updated and a beta Twitter app leaked out, both providing integration with the newly restructured Photos app.

Enlarge/ Most of the clicks in the old pictures hub were in two places. That's why the new app prioritizes those places.

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Belfiore explained the design of the new Photos app with a diagram showing which features of the old Photos Hub were used most often. The new app is designed to make those features more readily accessible. It also makes integration with third party applications more or less seamless: OneDrive, Facebook, and Twitter all show up more or less as folders, and pictures stored on these services can be browsed and manipulated in much the same way as pictures on the phone's own storage.

The Facebook app is also due to be updated in June, Belfiore wrote, to improve performance and the way it presents photos.

Microsoft is updating its own apps too. The Skype app already integrates with the People hub, but its performance leaves many users unhappy. Belfiore said that the Skype team is working on this and will have a faster updated version for Windows Phone 8.1.

Yesterday, Microsoft released a Reading List app for Windows Phone that syncs with the Windows 8.1 Reading List, Microsoft's entry in the "read it later" app category. At the same time, the company released a Windows Phone version of its Movie Moments app, which makes it easy to create short movie clips with text captions and music.

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Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of interest in the Windows Phone virtual assistant Cortana. Cortana is currently restricted to the US and in beta. Once it leaves beta, Microsoft is adding the UK and China, with other English-speaking countries likely to be next. The broader rollout faces two big challenges, according to Belfiore: reliable speech recognition that can cope with a wide range of accents, and good localized data. Unfortunately, he offered no specifics on which regions were the priorities.

There was also a cheeky hint that Cortana is likely to make her way to form factors beyond the phone. When asked if Cortana would ever come to Windows 8, Belfiore replied that he had nothing to announce, but that Cortana was "always telling us she's a fan of PCs herself. :)" So we wouldn't be altogether surprised to see Microsoft bring the technology to the PC—and the Xbox—at some point in the future.

71 Reader Comments

Cortana would be great for the desktop and laptop, and is needed for Windows tablets for feature parity vs Android and iOS. The sooner it happens, the better. Certainly, their cooking app would do better with Cortana than their touch-free gestures using a laptop or tablet's webcam.

When I take public transportation I am always amazed at all those people staring at their phones and totally out of touch with the world around them. I wonder how many end up missing their stop. But that's not the point I'm trying to present; I tend to use those observations as anecdotal evidence for the market share between the different types of phones and overall it is mostly 50/50 between iPhones and Androids. Yesterday I finally saw someone with a Windows phone for the first time and I had to look twice to be sure.

Its a great platform and I love it. It is hard to recommend, though. For most people I'd recommend it for, I feel iOS as a total ecosystem I far more compelling. And if someone is a power user? Android all the way. So... Yeah...

Why is it that Microsoft is such a US-focused company? Many parts of its ecosystem (e.g., Bing features from 2-3 years ago) are either solely or largely available in the US.

And don't tell me this is just a question of corporate culture. That really doesn't explain this failure.

There has to be some more fundamental explanation. For example, does Microsoft have not enough datacenters outside the US? Or, does it lack the resources to properly internationalize its software? (Both of these are examples of what I mean by "fundamental")

That doesn't tell you too much.Interestingly enough, customers in Germany buying Ladas (very, very bare bones cars) are more satisfied than Mercedes' customers. I guess in both cases the people who buy a Lada or get a Windows Phone know perfectly well what to expect.

That said, I'm all for more competition in the phone market. A viable third option besides iOS and Android might be something app developers aren't too keen on supporting, but as a consumer I'd be happy about it. And from what I read about WP in the last months, it's getting more attractive with every step.

Well, I've wondered if the larger user base, like PCs, means Android has more people who functional illiterates with tech. That could explain it. WP is great and all, but I suspect we've got more enthusiasts and devs who spent time learning how (and sometimes even why) things are done in the OS.

And, of course, kool-aid drinking fanboys. I stopped going to one WP site because 99% of the people there were in some sort of community generated RDF field O_O

I can't wait for Verizon stores to update their WP devices to 8.1 so I can demo it. I'm really rooting for WP for some reason- even after some decent Android experiences, I like what they've shown of the UI for 8.1, and with a small app market, now's the time to jump on board and start developing high-quality apps. Their device range seems good as well, and am I mistaken in thinking MS will exert more control over devices than Google does for Android? If that's the case, they may find a nice middle ground between Android's "Come one, come all" approach and Apple's no-licensing approach.

WP is more a middle ground between Android's free for all and Apple's one size fits all. I think WP is better about updating than Android (except no 6.* to 7 and no 7 to 8, which understandably pissed people off), but Apple still has the gold standard here. That said, it doesn't have Apple's rich ecosystem (content, accessories, etc), nor Android's flexibility (for better and worse) regarding hardware and OEM customization.

Keep rooting. At worst they'll continue to be a minor player, but hopefully everyone's expectations will rise. And if that happens, Google plus its partners will have to raise their game. That's a win either way.

I've got no complaints about my Lumia 920. This is just icing on the cake..new features at the OS level keep coming. The phone doesn't feel old.

Today I used Nokia Beamer to share a meme from my phone with a coworker, he hadn't seen anything like it before, and he's got something like 300 apps on his iPhone. I'm not app crazy but I do like a few good apps.

File managers aren't necessarily the first thing that people think of when it comes to smartphones

I expect it.

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+1

Computers organize people's information in files.

There isn't any good reason why an OS would prevent users from organizing their own files. I understand the simplicity story but there is no reason why sophisticated users would have to endure usability castration just because some retarded UI designer thought that he knew better.

interesting data on the Pictures Hub. I admit that I miss its aesthetics, but I rarely clicked on favorites or what's new. I did, however, use apps quite often, and I don't see the same integration from 3rd party apps in Windows 8.1. maybe they have to be updated to show up where OneDrive, Facebook, and Twitter are now.

The optimist in me thinks it's because the designers wanted to make the devices less complex for the typical end user. The cynic in me thinks it's so they can push potentially lucrative stuff like cloud storage, by making it more difficult for the end user to manage their internal storage.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and go with less complexity. However, the deliberate lack of SD slots on many devices always sets my cynic sense a-tingling.

That said, I don't seem to be having a problem with my 925. 32gb and no SD slot (my only reservation). I'm looking forward to the OS update.

I bumped into the news bite on MS buying Nokia the other day. Windows Phone had always pique my interest since that is how I got into smartphones in the first place (WindowsCE... still get chills).

So i went looking around eBay and bought a cheap Lumia 920. Chassis banged up but screen in fairly good condition. Changed the shell myself (surprisingly easy) and have been playing with WP8.1 since...

Have to admit, coming from Android, I miss the level of tweaks and control BUT man does this OS runs smooth. Frankly I am quite surprised on how well it runs and responds. The main weakness are the apps but there are some brilliant coders filling the gaps.

I still miss Google Now though. Cortana is not yet there and the Nokia apps are not accurate (estimating traffic time).

The optimist in me thinks it's because the designers wanted to make the devices less complex for the typical end user. The cynic in me thinks it's so they can push potentially lucrative stuff like cloud storage, by making it more difficult for the end user to manage their internal storage.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and go with less complexity. However, the deliberate lack of SD slots on many devices always sets my cynic sense a-tingling.

That said, I don't seem to be having a problem with my 925. 32gb and no SD slot (my only reservation). I'm looking forward to the OS update.

With the recent (rumored) demise of the Nexus in favor of "Silver", the glowing reviews for Windows Phone 8.1, and the fact that Windows Phones are nice on the budget (Lumia 521 for $60 unsubsidized?!), I'm starting to consider maybe jumping platforms. As a long-time Android user, the fact that I'm having these thoughts surprises me a little...

With the recent (rumored) demise of the Nexus in favor of "Silver", the glowing reviews for Windows Phone 8.1, and the fact that Windows Phones are nice on the budget (Lumia 521 for $60 unsubsidized?!), I'm starting to consider maybe jumping platforms. As a long-time Android user, the fact that I'm having these thoughts surprises me a little...

There are some great deals to be had on unsubsidized lower-end Windows Phone handsets, and amazingly enough Windows Phone runs beautifully on lower-end hardware--as chunky and bloated as Windows desktop OSes got over the years, whodathunkit, but today all forms of Windows 8 seem to be lean and efficient beyond reason. Personally, I keep wanting to buy a Lumia 1320 even though they're "gray market" in the U.S.... I keep telling myself to resist, but a bright 6" 720p ClearBlack IPS display just itching to run Windows Phone 8.1 for just north of $300 is hard to resist...

I've got no complaints about my Lumia 920. This is just icing on the cake..new features at the OS level keep coming. The phone doesn't feel old.

Today I used Nokia Beamer to share a meme from my phone with a coworker, he hadn't seen anything like it before, and he's got something like 300 apps on his iPhone. I'm not app crazy but I do like a few good apps.

You should try "Nokia Play To" - if you have network access (open WiFi or the password) you can send photos, videos or music to any compatible device on that network. I like messing with my nephew when he plays xbox by making things appear on the TV, but I'm kind of an asshole, so YMMV.

With the recent (rumored) demise of the Nexus in favor of "Silver", the glowing reviews for Windows Phone 8.1, and the fact that Windows Phones are nice on the budget (Lumia 521 for $60 unsubsidized?!), I'm starting to consider maybe jumping platforms. As a long-time Android user, the fact that I'm having these thoughts surprises me a little...

Where I live, Verizon provides the only real coverage anyway, so unsubsidized isn't as appealing as I would like, but my wife and I got a 928 each for free for renewing our contract last year. She also has a GS5 she got from work, she doesn't use it and having played with it myself, I just don't really see the appeal comparatively - I guess it (the OS) would be my second choice. Some people talk about the apple ecosystem like it's a good thing, but it seems restrictive and unnecessary to me, which is the main reason I don't own or want an apple device. My WP interacts seamlessly (and is capable of much more than I want or use) with my Xboxes, home theater, car stereo, home network, pretty much anybody else's network, my PCs and even my Asus motherboard specifically - I can control OCing and the entire BIOS via BT. It's also fine on it's own without anything else. I don't know of any apps I personally would want that I don't already have on WP, and the ones I have compared, like Nokia's HERE maps and their photo apps especially, are better than anything else I am aware of by far.In any case, I wouldn't swap my phone for anything but a newer/bigger/better Nokia.

File managers aren't necessarily the first thing that people think of when it comes to smartphones

I expect it. One of several reasons WP wasn't compelling to me. That and fused memory they insisted on initially.

You have 3rd party file managers for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Neither platforms had a native (1st party) file manager; WP would/will be the first.I'd like all platforms to get a native one. I'd rather use one created by the creator of the OS rather than a 3rd party, but also glad others get a choice.

The optimist in me thinks it's because the designers wanted to make the devices less complex for the typical end user. The cynic in me thinks it's so they can push potentially lucrative stuff like cloud storage, by making it more difficult for the end user to manage their internal storage.

It's not like Dropbox, Google Drive and One Drive don't mimic a directory.

This obsession with simplicity lead to all 4 or more services being necessarily bundled into every iOS app that works with documents.

And, as these services show, after years of simplicity, folders and files (sprinkled here and there with search and some special galleries) are still the best we have come up with to work with files.

There is no point writing a file manager for windows phone, because apps simply cannot see each others files. With the exception of images and documents. When I first got my htc 8x, my first idea was to make a ftp or see if I can port any file sharing program to it, how cool it would be to see the phone's shared folders on a network. But no, it's simply retarded, no access to other apps files.

The optimist in me thinks it's because the designers wanted to make the devices less complex for the typical end user. The cynic in me thinks it's so they can push potentially lucrative stuff like cloud storage, by making it more difficult for the end user to manage their internal storage.

It's not like Dropbox, Google Drive and One Drive don't mimic a directory.

This obsession with simplicity lead to all 4 or more services being necessarily bundled into every iOS app that works with documents.

And, as these services show, after years of simplicity, folders and files (sprinkled here and there with search and some special galleries) are still the best we have come up with to work with files.

Well, that and they're pretty darn simple when you get right down to it. Now, people can make them into unorganized messes, but hey... can't help that.

I didn't expect much different, actually. Microsoft gives the perfect example of the movement of computers from intelligent, user-programmable systems towards pre-programmed appliances.

Thank his noodliness for Linux and its prophets.

As to the Cortana thingy... promo videos looked cool, no matter how jaded the idea of a personified assistant is in reality. Pity that I will only have Windows at work, where it could be innaproprite to converse with the computer.

I guess you never noticed Apple and its iOS... As for Linux it doesn't have much on phones, where WP lives. On PC side nothing changed so your complaint is quite illogical...

I didn't expect much different, actually. Microsoft gives the perfect example of the movement of computers from intelligent, user-programmable systems towards pre-programmed appliances.

Thank his noodliness for Linux and its prophets.

As to the Cortana thingy... promo videos looked cool, no matter how jaded the idea of a personified assistant is in reality. Pity that I will only have Windows at work, where it could be innaproprite to converse with the computer.

I guess you never noticed Apple and its iOS... As for Linux it doesn't have much on phones, where WP lives. On PC side nothing changed so your complaint is quite illogical...

I completely agree that apple products are much more like "pre-programmed appliances", and they were indeed born in the homebrew computer club, where "user-programmable systems" were, well, all there was (my first was a TRS-80 that didn't do shit until you programmed it to <10 if x<>0 then defecate><20 return>. I guess his "noodliness" is Linus Torvalds? I assume so, anyway. I think what he means is iOS and Linux are both forks of FreeBSD Unix, with iOS being pretty locked down (though it does have a command line and serves some higher level functions and uses perfectly fine) while Linux itself as an OS consists of innumerable forks, some based on modified kernels, from Kali (mooHAHA) to Ubuntu and Mint and Arch and. . . . Android! And Chrome OS! I would really think, though this is not my area of expertise, that sharing apps and progs between iOS and at least SOME Linux flavors should be an easy port. It's MS, with it's x86 architecture based OS that is actually the odd man out who yet still seems to have all the goodies. And a further irony is that Linux and even Android seem to play with Windows OS and MS devices WAYYY better that iOS does, in spite of iOS sharing more genetic material with Linux and MS writing A LOT of apple software. I have set up quite a few LANs/WANs with Linux servers (Redhat and Canonical) and Windows nodes and it's a fantastic and cost-effective setup in many situations - but the minute you wanna throw some mac in the mix, you're gonna need a consultant. That messes with my juju.

edit to add a serendipitously just discovered linky-link: http://gizmodo.com/how-steve-wozniak-wr ... 573636/all'cuz chocolate or evil gross vanilla from the devil's stinky butthole, the Woz is the man we'd ALL like to share it with, if only to glean some wisdom - from the tone in his voice and the chocolate in his choice.All hail the immaculate WOZ!

The broader rollout faces two big challenges, according to Belfiore: reliable speech recognition that can cope with a wide range of accents, and good localised data. Unfortunately, he offered no specifics on which regions were the priorities.

That's just it though. Good localised data means a better Bing for that specific region but so far Bing has lagged woefully behind, both in feature set and just plain quality, in just about every region outside of the United States and there's been no indication that the situation is likely to change.

The same U.S. first, rest of the world never, attitude has plagued Windows Phone as well but at least there one could have possibly cut Microsoft some slack because part of it involved getting the rights to selling or renting media in various places except Apple has been able to figure it out and did so long ago.

Microsoft's platform is undeniably improving with time but I'm still not convinced that the company is even really committed to it and I'll only believe it when I see it (and by "see it" I mean see more or less the same features across most of the regions worldwide within a reasonable time scale and at least a couple of major OS updates that don't simply abandon the existing user base(again(again))).

When I take public transportation I am always amazed at all those people staring at their phones and totally out of touch with the world around them. I wonder how many end up missing their stop. But that's not the point I'm trying to present; I tend to use those observations as anecdotal evidence for the market share between the different types of phones and overall it is mostly 50/50 between iPhones and Androids. Yesterday I finally saw someone with a Windows phone for the first time and I had to look twice to be sure.

It depends on where you are. The US market share is quite low but here in Germany I'd estimate about half of my friends are or have been using a Windows phone. I guess this depends on the distribution model of the phones, only iPhones or high end Android and Windows phones are bought on contract, most people spend a few euros in a prepaid card and get a budget phone. You can get an internet flat rate at most supermarkets for less than five euros a month and the Lumia 620 is constantly on sale for 95€ at the biggest electronics retailer so you get a very different market compared to the US where most phones are subsidized by carriers and it seems to be worth reporting every time a carrier ads a few megabytes of data to high two figure contracts.

The optimist in me thinks it's because the designers wanted to make the devices less complex for the typical end user. The cynic in me thinks it's so they can push potentially lucrative stuff like cloud storage, by making it more difficult for the end user to manage their internal storage.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and go with less complexity. However, the deliberate lack of SD slots on many devices always sets my cynic sense a-tingling.

That said, I don't seem to be having a problem with my 925. 32gb and no SD slot (my only reservation). I'm looking forward to the OS update.

I'm a little surprised the 925 doesn't have an SD slot, as my lowly (and amazing) 521 does. Looking at the different Lumias, it seems more hit than miss. Not sure what affects the decision per phone.

The optimist in me thinks it's because the designers wanted to make the devices less complex for the typical end user. The cynic in me thinks it's so they can push potentially lucrative stuff like cloud storage, by making it more difficult for the end user to manage their internal storage.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and go with less complexity. However, the deliberate lack of SD slots on many devices always sets my cynic sense a-tingling.

That said, I don't seem to be having a problem with my 925. 32gb and no SD slot (my only reservation). I'm looking forward to the OS update.

When I take public transportation I am always amazed at all those people staring at their phones and totally out of touch with the world around them. I wonder how many end up missing their stop. But that's not the point I'm trying to present; I tend to use those observations as anecdotal evidence for the market share between the different types of phones and overall it is mostly 50/50 between iPhones and Androids. Yesterday I finally saw someone with a Windows phone for the first time and I had to look twice to be sure.

Its a great platform and I love it. It is hard to recommend, though. For most people I'd recommend it for, I feel iOS as a total ecosystem I far more compelling. And if someone is a power user? Android all the way. So... Yeah...

I love my WP, but I'm not a fanboy about it.

That's funny, because I find WP8 to be pretty easy to recommend, in general. But then, I also recommend people use pay-as-you-go plans without subsidized devices, and you can get great phones for a lot less than you'd pay for something from Cupertino.

I don't recommend them willy-nilly; plenty of people would be better served by a Moto G, and some people just wouldn't be happy without an iPhone. But for people who use their phones the way I do, a WP8 device is a great choice.

Now if only the 8.1 update hadn't toasted the battery life on my Lumia 620...at least I was able to get the improved Black-level Glance notifications back after I reverted to Amber...

The optimist in me thinks it's because the designers wanted to make the devices less complex for the typical end user. The cynic in me thinks it's so they can push potentially lucrative stuff like cloud storage, by making it more difficult for the end user to manage their internal storage.

It's not like Dropbox, Google Drive and One Drive don't mimic a directory.

This obsession with simplicity lead to all 4 or more services being necessarily bundled into every iOS app that works with documents.

And, as these services show, after years of simplicity, folders and files (sprinkled here and there with search and some special galleries) are still the best we have come up with to work with files.

Well, that and they're pretty darn simple when you get right down to it. Now, people can make them into unorganized messes, but hey... can't help that.

I was pretty damned frustrated the other day when I wanted to share a file with someone, but since it was in one directory on the phone instead of another, I arbitrarily wasn't able to. I just copied it into my Camera Roll folder and now I have the Share... option.

Dammit, Microsoft, I want WP8 to be successful, but the fact that I had to plug my phone into a computer to move a file into a directory where sharing is allowed is just...it's asinine. I'm glad you're adding a file manager, but assuming it would solve that problem, I still won't be able to use it until you and/or Nokia and/or my wireless carrier make it so that I can use 8.1 and get more than half a day of battery out of my phone...

Fortunately, this is rarely a problem for me in practice, but when it is an issue...

The fact that Joe describes Skype as an ISV when its owner by MS shows that the intra team fighting in MS still exists. It doesn't look like the Skype team uses WP as a daily driver otherwise they would know how laggy it is and the battery it sucks just doing text chatting.

MS services should be best on MS platforms. I understand that third party devs wasn't to prioritize on usernase, but MS has no excuse. WP is not going to get traction or attention from third party devs when even MS teams treat it like a second class citizen.